October 13, 2006

Pakistan's Karachi to give its cattle sector a complete facelift
 

Karachi, the capital of Sindh province in Pakistan, has plans to upgrade its livestock and agriculture sectors by launching an animal health programme, building modern slaughterhouses and re-opening an abattoir.

An official said that the city government plans to boost livestock and agriculture production through modern technologies while providing rural employment and food security in the process.

The livestock population in this city numbers 1 million, with 40 percent of farmers crossbreeding their animals to gain better breeds.

One stumbling block so far has been the absence of a processing facility in the city as only a few dairy cooperatives had their own chilling facilities, the official said. Similarly, there were no facility for meat in the area apart from those in ice factories.

Still, the city is not lacking in demand, especially when it comes to milk. The city consumes 8 million litres of milk daily, only half of which came from local dairies. This meant a greater need to foster dairy colonies and milk processing factories, for which the government has also planned for.

The official said two local existing slaughterhouses where thousands of livestock were slaughtered daily, were poorly run without proper facilities, giving rise to hygiene problems.

To cope with the problems, the city government has planned to establish more three mechanical slaughterhouses and revive the existing abattoir in the Cattle Colony, Landhi. It also planned to operate refrigerated vehicles for transportation of meat and dairy products.

The city would also set up veterinary diagnostic laboratories to diagnose diseases in animals and upgrade three existing veterinary hospitals.